Navy Study Tests Neck Injections

Doctors at Naval Medical Center San Diego believe a shot in the neck may ease the shock from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The team of doctors say injecting an aesthetic into a bundle of nerves called the Stellate Ganglion located in the neck could block the nerves from transmitting anxiety and other pain signals brought on by PTSD to the brain, essentially "rebooting the computer" in the process.

To confirm their findings, doctors will conduct a new study that they hope could provide relief to many veterans and others who suffer from the anxiety disorder.

More than 20 patients suffering from PTSD have started the three-month treatment program. The treatments consist of two-to-three shots of the never-blocker or a placebo, each treatment lasting approximately 30-minutes.

Captain Anita Hickey, anesthesiologist and director of Pain Research and Integrative Medicine at the Naval hospital likens the treatments to "rebooting the computer. "[Stellate Ganglion Block injections] have an effect on the sympathetic nervous system in the brain."

The team of doctors plan to deliver their findings at an American Psychiatric Association meeting in May.

Comments

Highly experimental this sounds. And it suggests a means of treating the symptom, not treating the underlying cause. But can we treat that cause, once the veteran has been exposed to the horrors of combat? I suppose that anything that works, even for a few sufferers, is worth pursuing and investigating. It is also rather comforting to know that our military establishment actually accepts the reality of PTSD, and is attempting to do something for the victims.